Abridgement of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856 (4 of 16 vol.)

TWELFTH CONGRESS. – FIRST SESSION.

BEGUN AT THE CITY OF WASHINGTON, NOVEMBER 4, 1811.

PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE. 10

Monday, November 4, 1811

The first session of the Twelfth Congress commenced this day at the city of Washington, conformably to the proclamation of the President of the United States, of the 24th of July last, and the Senate assembled in their Chamber.

PRESENT:

• George Clinton, Vice President of the United States and President of the Senate.

• Nicholas Gilman and Charles Cutts, from New Hampshire.

• Chauncey Goodrich and Samuel W. Dana, from Connecticut.

• Stephen R. Bradley, from Vermont.

• John Smith and Obadiah German, from New York.

• John Condit and John Lambert, from New Jersey.

• Andrew Gregg and Michael Leib, from Pennsylvania.

• Outerbridge Horsey, from Delaware.

• Samuel Smith and Philip Reed, from Maryland.

• William B. Giles, from Virginia.

• Jesse Franklin, from North Carolina.

• John Gaillard and John Taylor, from South Carolina.

• William H. Crawford and Charles Tait, from Georgia.

• John Pope, from Kentucky.

• Joseph Anderson, from Tennessee.

• Thomas Worthington, from Ohio.

George M. Bibb, appointed a Senator by the Legislature of the State of Kentucky, for the term of six years, commencing on the 4th day of March last; George W. Campbell, appointed a Senator by the Legislature of the State of Tennessee, in place of Jenkin Whiteside, resigned; Jeremiah B. Howell, appointed a Senator, for the term of six years, commencing on the fourth day of March last, by the Legislature of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations; Joseph B. Varnum, appointed a Senator by the Legislature of the State of Massachusetts, for the term of six years, commencing on the fourth day of March last; respectively produced their credentials, which were read, and the oath prescribed by law was administered to them, and they took their seats in the Senate.

The oath was also administered to Messrs. Condit, Crawford, Giles, Gilman, and Taylor, their credentials having been read and filed during the last session.

Ordered, That the Secretary acquaint the House of Representatives that a quorum of the Senate is assembled and ready to proceed to business.

A message from the House of Representatives informed the Senate that a quorum of the House of Representatives is assembled, and have elected Henry Clay, Esq., one of the Representatives from the State of Kentucky, their Speaker, and are ready to proceed to business. They have appointed a committee on their part, jointly with such committee as may be appointed on the part of the Senate, to wait on the President of the United States, and notify him that a quorum of the two Houses is assembled and ready to receive any communications that he may be pleased to make to them.

The Senate concurred in the appointment of a joint committee on their part, agreeably to the resolution last mentioned; and Messrs. Anderson and Gaillard were appointed the committee.

The Senate then adjourned.

Tuesday, November 5

Richard Brent, from the State of Virginia, attended.

Annual Message

The following Message was received from the President of the United States:

Fellow-citizens of the Senate

and House of Representatives:

In calling you together sooner than a separation from your homes would otherwise have been required, I yielded to considerations drawn from the posture of our foreign affairs; and in fixing the present, for the time of your meeting, regard was had to the probability of further developments of the policy of the belligerent powers towards this country, which might the more unite the National Councils in the measures to be pursued.

At the close of the last session of Congress, it was hoped that the successive confirmations of the extinction of the French decrees, so far as they violated our neutral commerce, would have induced the Government of Great Britain to repeal its Orders in Council, and thereby authorize a removal of the existing obstructions to her commerce with the United States.

Instead of this reasonable step towards satisfaction and friendship between the two nations, the Orders were, at a moment when least to have been expected, put into more rigorous execution; and it was communicated through the British Envoy just arrived, that, whilst the revocation of the edicts of France, as officially made known to the British Government, was denied to have taken place, it was an indispensable condition of the repeal of the British Orders that commerce should be restored to a footing that would admit the productions and manufactures of Great Britain, when owned by neutrals, into markets shut against them by her enemy; the United States being given to understand that, in the mean time, a continuance of their non-importation act would lead to measures of retaliation.

At a later date, it has indeed appeared that a communication to the British Government, of fresh evidence of the repeal of the French decrees against our neutral trade, was followed by an intimation that it had been transmitted to the British Plenipotentiary here, in order that it might receive full consideration in the depending discussions. This communication appears not to have been received; but the transmission of it hitherto, instead of founding on it an actual repeal of the orders, or assurances that the repeal would ensue, will not permit us to rely on any effective change in the British Cabinet. To be ready to meet with cordiality satisfactory proofs of such a change, and to proceed, in the mean time, in adapting our measures to the views which have been disclosed through that Minister, will best consult our whole duty.

In the friendly spirit of those disclosures, indemnity and redress for other wrongs have continued to be withheld; and our coasts, and the mouths of our harbors, have again witnessed scenes not less derogatory to the dearest of our national rights, than vexatious to the regular course of our trade.

Among the occurrences produced by the conduct of British ships of war hovering on our coasts, was an encounter between one of them and the American frigate commanded by Captain Rodgers, rendered unavoidable on the part of the latter, by a fire, commenced without cause, by the former; whose commander is therefore alone chargeable with the blood unfortunately shed in maintaining the honor of the American flag. The proceedings of a court of inquiry, requested by Captain Rodgers, are communicated, together with the correspondence relating to the occurrence between the Secretary of State and His Britannic Majesty's Envoy. To these are added the several correspondences which have passed on the subject of the British Orders in Council; and to both, the correspondence relating to the Floridas, in which Congress will be made acquainted with the interposition which the Government of Great Britain has thought proper to make against the proceeding of the United States.

The justice and fairness which have been evinced on the part of the United States towards France, both before and since the revocation of her decrees, authorized an expectation that her Government would have followed up that measure by all such others as were due to our reasonable claims, as well as dictated by its amicable professions. No proof, however, is yet given of an intention to repair the other wrongs done to the United States, and particularly to restore the great amount of American property seized and condemned under edicts which, though not affecting our neutral relations, and therefore not entering into questions between the United States and other belligerents, were, nevertheless, founded in such unjust principles that the reparation ought to have been prompt and ample.

In addition to this and other demands of strict right on that nation, the United States have much reason to be dissatisfied with the rigorous and unexpected restrictions to which their trade with the French dominions has been subjected; and which, if not discontinued, will require at least corresponding restrictions on importations from France into the United States.

On all those subjects, our Minister Plenipotentiary, lately sent to Paris, has carried with him the necessary instructions; the result of which will be communicated to you, and by ascertaining the ulterior policy of the French Government towards the United States, will enable you to adapt to it that of the United States towards France.

Our other foreign relations remain without unfavorable changes. With Russia they are on the best footing of friendship. The ports of Sweden have afforded proofs of friendly dispositions towards our commerce in the Councils of that nation also. And the information from our special Minister to Denmark, shows that the mission had been attended with valuable effects to our citizens, whose property had been so extensively violated and endangered by cruisers under the Danish flag.

Under the ominous indications which commanded attention, it became a duty to exert the means committed to the Executive department in providing for the general security. The works of defence on our maritime frontier have accordingly been prosecuted with an activity leaving little to be added for the completion of the most important ones; and, as particularly suited for co-operation in emergencies, a portion of the gunboats have, in particular harbors, been ordered into use. The ships of war before in commission, with the addition of a frigate, have been chiefly employed as a cruising guard to the rights of our coast. And such a disposition has been made of our land forces, as was thought to promise the services most appropriate and important. In this disposition is included a force, consisting of regulars and militia, embodied in the Indiana Territory, and marched towards our Northwestern frontier. This measure was made requisite by the several murders and depredations committed by Indians, but more especially by the menacing preparations and aspect of a combination of them on the Wabash, under the influence and direction of a fanatic of the Shawanese tribe. With these exceptions, the Indian tribes retain their peaceable dispositions towards us, and their usual pursuits.

I must now add that the period is arrived which claims from the Legislative guardians of the national rights a system of more ample provisions for maintaining them. Notwithstanding the scrupulous justice, the protracted moderation, and the multiplied efforts, on the part of the United States, to substitute for the accumulating dangers to the peace of the two countries, all the mutual advantages of re-established friendship and confidence, we have seen that the British Cabinet perseveres, not only in withholding a remedy for other wrongs, so long and so loudly calling for it, but in the execution, brought home to the threshold of our territory, of measures which, under existing circumstances, have the character, as well as the effect, of war on our lawful commerce.

With this evidence of hostile inflexibility, in trampling on rights which no independent nation can relinquish, Congress will feel the duty of putting the United States into an armor and an attitude demanded by the crisis, and corresponding with the national spirit and expectations.

I recommend, accordingly, that adequate provision be made for filling the ranks and prolonging the enlistments of the regular troops; for an auxiliary force, to be engaged for a more limited term; for the acceptance of volunteer corps, whose patriotic ardor may court a participation in urgent services; for detachments, as they may be wanted, of other portions of the militia; and for such a preparation of the great body as will proportion its usefulness to its intrinsic capacities. Nor can the occasion fail to remind you of the importance of those military seminaries which, in every event, will form a valuable and frugal part of our Military Establishment.

The manufacture of cannon and small arms has proceeded with due success; and the stock and resources of all the necessary munitions are adequate to emergencies. It will not be inexpedient, however, for Congress to authorize an enlargement of them.

Your attention will, of course, be drawn to such provisions on the subject of our naval force as may be required for the services to which it may be best adapted. I submit to Congress the seasonableness also of an authority to augment the stock of such materials as are imperishable in their nature, or may not at once be attainable.

In contemplating the scenes which distinguish this momentous epoch, and estimating their claims to our attention, it is impossible to overlook those developing themselves among the great communities which occupy the Southern portion of our hemisphere, and extend into our neighborhood. An enlarged philanthropy, and an enlightened forecast, concur in imposing on the national Councils an obligation to take a deep interest in their destinies, to cherish reciprocal sentiments of good will, to regard the progress of events, and not to be unprepared for whatever order of things may be ultimately established.

Under another aspect of our situation, the early attention of Congress will be due to the expediency of further guards against evasions and infractions of our commercial laws. The practice of smuggling, which is odious every where, and particularly criminal in free Governments, where the laws being made by all for the good of all, a fraud is committed on every individual as well as on the State, attains its utmost guilt when it blends, with a pursuit of ignominious gain, a treacherous subserviency in the transgressors to a foreign policy, adverse to that of their own country. It is then that the virtuous indignation of the public should be enabled to manifest itself through the regular animadversions of the most competent laws.

To secure greater respect to our mercantile flag, and to the honest interests which it covers, it is expedient also that it be made punishable in our citizens to accept licenses from foreign Governments for a trade unlawfully interdicted by them to other American citizens; or to trade under false colors or papers of any sort.

A prohibition is equally called for against the acceptance, by our citizens, of special licenses to be used in a trade with the United States; and against the admission into particular ports of the United States of vessels from foreign countries authorized to trade with particular ports only.

Although other subjects will press more immediately on your deliberations, a portion of them cannot but be well bestowed on the just and sound policy of securing to our manufactures the success they have attained, and are still attaining, in some degree, under the impulse of causes not permanent; and to our navigation the fair extent of which it is at present abridged by the unequal regulations of foreign Governments.

Besides the reasonableness of saving our manufacturers from sacrifices which a change of circumstances might bring on them, the national interest requires that, with respect to such articles at least as belong to our defence and our primary wants, we should not be left in unnecessary dependence on external supplies. And whilst foreign Governments adhere to the existing discriminations in their ports against our navigation, and an equality or lesser discrimination is enjoyed by their navigation in our ports, the effect cannot be mistaken, because it has been seriously felt by our shipping interests; and in proportion as this takes place, the advantages of an independent conveyance of our products to foreign markets, and of a growing body of mariners, trained by their occupation for the service of their country in times of danger, must be diminished.

The receipts into the Treasury during the year ending on the thirtieth of September last, have exceeded thirteen millions and a half of dollars, and have enabled us to defray the current expenses, including the interest on the public debt, and to reimburse more than five millions of dollars of the principal, without recurring to the loan authorized by the act of the last session. The temporary loan obtained in the latter end of the year one thousand eight hundred and ten, has also been reimbursed, and is not included in that amount.

The decrease of revenue arising from the situation of our commerce and the extraordinary expenses which have and may become necessary, must be taken into view, in making commensurate provisions for the ensuing year. And I recommend to your consideration the propriety of insuring a sufficiency of annual revenue, at least to defray the ordinary expenses of Government, and to pay the interest on the public debt, including that on new loans which may be authorized.

I cannot close this communication without expressing my deep sense of the crisis in which you are assembled, my confidence in a wise and honorable result to your deliberations, and assurances of the faithful zeal with which my co-operating duties will be discharged; invoking, at the same time, the blessing of Heaven on our beloved country, and on all the means that may be employed in vindicating its rights and advancing its welfare.

JAMES MADISON.

Washington, November 5, 1811.

Wednesday, November 6

James Lloyd, from the State of Massachusetts, took his seat in the Senate.

Friday, November 8

On motion, by Mr. Smith, of Maryland,

Resolved, That Mountjoy Bayly, Doorkeeper and Sergeant-at-Arms to the Senate, be, and he is hereby, authorized to employ one assistant and two horses, for the purpose of performing such services as are usually required by the Doorkeeper to the Senate, and that the sum of twenty-eight dollars be allowed him weekly for that purpose, to commence with, and remain during the session and for twenty days after.

Monday, November 11

James Turner, appointed a Senator by the Legislature of the State of North Carolina, for the term of six years, commencing on the 4th day of March last, produced his credentials; which were read, and the oath prescribed by law was administered to him, and he took his seat in the Senate.

Tuesday, November 12

Alexander Campbell, from the State of Ohio, took his seat in the Senate.

Thursday, November 14

Reparation for the attack on the frigate Chesapeake

The following Message was received from the President of the United States:

To the Senate and House of

Representatives of the United States:

I communicate to Congress copies of a correspondence between the Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Great Britain and the Secretary of State, relative to the aggressions committed by a British ship of war on the United States frigate Chesapeake, by which it will be seen that that subject of difference between the two countries is terminated by an offer of reparation, which has been acceded to.

JAMES MADISON.

Washington, Nov. 13, 1811.

The Message and papers therein referred to were read, and ordered to lie on the table.

Friday, November 22

Jonathan Robinson, from the State of Vermont, took his seat in the Senate.

Monday, November 25

William Hunter, appointed a Senator by the Legislature of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, in place of Christopher Grant Champlin, resigned, produced his credentials, was qualified, and took his seat in the Senate.

Friday, November 29

The oath prescribed by law was administered to Mr. Bayard, his credentials having been read and filed during the last session.

Thursday, December 19

Battle of Tippecanoe

The following Message was received from the President of the United States:

To the Senate and House of

Representatives of the United States:

I lay before Congress two letters received from Governor Harrison, of the Indiana Territory, reporting the particulars and the issue of the expedition under his command, of which notice was taken in my communication of November 5th.

While it is deeply lamented that so many valuable lives have been lost in the action which took place on the 7th ultimo, Congress will see, with satisfaction, the dauntless spirit and fortitude victoriously displayed by every description of the troops engaged, as well as the collected firmness which distinguished their commander, on an occasion requiring the utmost exertions of valor and discipline.

It may reasonably be expected that the good effects of this critical defeat and dispersion of a combination of savages, which appears to have been spreading to a greater extent, will be experienced not only in a cessation of the murders and depredations committed on our frontier, but in the prevention of any hostile incursions otherwise to have been apprehended.

The families of those brave and patriotic citizens who have fallen in this severe conflict, will doubtless engage the favorable attention of Congress.

JAMES MADISON.

Washington, Dec. 18, 1811.

The Message and letters referred to were read, and ordered to lie on the table.

Friday, December 20

Mr. Gilman, from the committee, reported the bill to raise, for a limited time, an additional military force, correctly engrossed; and the bill was read the third time, and the blanks filled. On the question, Shall this bill pass? it was determined in the affirmative – yeas 26, nays 4, as follows:

Yeas. – Messrs. Anderson, Bibb, Bradley, Campbell of Ohio, Campbell of Tennessee, Condit, Crawford, Cutts, Franklin, Gaillard, German, Gilman, Gregg, Horsey, Howell, Leib, Lloyd, Pope, Reed, Robinson, Smith of New York, Tait, Taylor, Turner, Varnum, and Worthington.

Nays. – Messrs. Dana, Goodrich, Hunter, and Lambert.

Rangers for the Frontier

The Senate resumed, as in Committee of the Whole, the bill authorizing the President of the United States to raise certain companies of spies or rangers for the protection of the frontier of the United States; and the bill was amended; and the President reported it to the House accordingly.

On the question, Shall this bill be engrossed and read a third time as amended? it was determined in the affirmative.

Tuesday, December 24

Hudson River and Lake Ontario Canal

The following Message was received from the President of the United States:

To the Senate and House of

Representatives of the United States:

I communicate to Congress copies of an act of the Legislature of New York, relating to a canal from the great Lakes to Hudson's River. In making the communication, I consult the respect due to that State in whose behalf the commissioners appointed by the act have placed it in my hands for the purpose.

The utility of canal navigation is universally admitted. It is not less certain, that scarcely any country offers more extensive opportunities for that branch of improvements than the United States; and none, perhaps, inducements equally persuasive to make the most of them. The particular undertaking contemplated by the State of New York, which marks an honorable spirit of enterprise, and comprises objects of national as well as more limited importance, will recall the attention of Congress to the signal advantages to be derived to the United States from a general system of internal communication and conveyance; and suggest to their consideration whatever steps may be proper, on their part, towards its introduction and accomplishment. As some of those advantages have an intimate connection with arrangements and exertions for the general security, it is at a period calling for these that the merits of such a system will be seen in the strongest lights.

JAMES MADISON.

Washington, December 23, 1811.

The Message and documents therein referred to were read; and referred to the committee last mentioned, to consider and report thereon.

Friday, December 27

The following Message was received from the President of the United States:

To the Senate and House of